


the boy i am (the galaxy you are)

by lazyloopd



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alien!Yukhei, Aliens, Cohabitation, Fluff and Angst, Hate to Love, High School, M/M, Mystery, Science Fiction, Telepathy, all of NCT Dream lives in the same neighborhood, sci-fi coming of age
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-20
Updated: 2018-03-20
Packaged: 2019-04-05 01:24:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,316
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14033121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lazyloopd/pseuds/lazyloopd
Summary: "Someday, you might travel to the stars, Donghyuck. Or maybe, the stars will travel to you."(or, remind Donghyuck to never let Chenle convince him to do anything after midnight, especially things involving discovering an unconscious alien in Mark's backyard.)





	the boy i am (the galaxy you are)

Donghyuck sits in his dimmed bedroom, hunched over his desk in sorrowful resignation after trying to solve a sheet of impossible algebra problems. It's nearly midnight, and his brain literally can't take staring at a page anymore, let only actually _doing_ math. He sighs heavily and slips his worksheet into his backpack in defeat.

  
Leaning back into his chair, his phone chimes. A text waits for him:

  
**Chenle**  
_hey dude come outside I think I just saw something land in the woods over by mark's_

  
Donghyuck stares at the text in aggravation and angrily types back.

  
**Donghyuck**  
_hey dude, don't you know it's nearly midnight?_

  
A reply comes very quickly.

  
**Chenle**  
_donghyuck, c'mon_  
_you stay up late every night anyway_  
_i see you liking stuff on twitter at 2 a.m._

  
**Donghyuck**  
_how is that relevant?_  
_i'm really tired and brain dead right now, so no_

  
**Chenle**  
_dude._  
_Mark will be there_  
_it's his idea to check the woods out_

  
**Donghyuck**  
_..._

  
**Chenle**  
_it'll be quick i promise_  
_c'mon_  
_i'll pay for your fries at lunch the rest of the week_

  
**Donghyuck**  
_deal._

  
Donghyuck swings a light jacket over his shoulders and tiptoes carefully downstairs, being extremely quiet to not wake his parents. It goes pretty well.

  
Outside it is fairly chilly, and the street lamps light a dim path to Mark's house. Donghyuck tucks his hands into his jacket pockets and curses Chenle's name. At least he's getting free food out of this.

  
A dark shape waits for him as he rounds the corner. It's very still, but then he hears a high-pitched shriek as the figure runs toward him. It's Chenle.

  
"Hey man!" Chenle shouts excitedly.

  
"Don't you 'hey man' me at this time of night, Chenle," Donghyuck replies. "This better be good."

  
Chenle's eyes flash. "Oh, it will be." He tugs Donghyuck by the sleeve. "Everyone else is waiting for us, c'mon."

  
Donghyuck lets himself be led, but not happily.

  
After a short walk, they reach the edge of the woods next to Mark's house. Donghyuck looks around, and in addition to him and Chenle, Mark, Renjun, Jaemin, Jisung, and Jeno have all gathered as well. Basically, his entire neighborhood. Jeno sends a smirk his way as Chenle drags him closer to the cluster of boys. Donghyuck glares in return. It's too late for this.

  
Mark's gaze flits over Donghyuck and Chenle, and Dongyuck notices as he mentally counts the boys around him, making sure everyone is here. Mark nods in approval when he's done.

  
"Okay, guys, so-" Mark begins. "I was just sitting in my room, about to go to sleep, when I feel this weird tremble in the floor-"

  
"Like an earthquake?" Jisung asks.

  
"Yes, Jisung, exactly like an earthquake," Mark says. "Anyway, so, I'm in my room and the floor's, like, _vibrating_ , and then I hear a really high-pitched noise. So, I go over to my window to see what's going on, and then I see something fall from the sky and land in the woods."

  
Mark points into the forest. "It came down somewhere towards the middle, I think. I want to find out what it is, so I wanted everyone to come with me. Thanks, Chenle, for convincing Donghyuck, by the way."

  
Chenle winks. "No problem."

  
"Let's just get it over with then," Donghyuck says, yawning. He starts walking into the forest.

  
"Wait, wait, everybody," Renjun shouts, "Do we all have flashlights? It's pitch-black in there."

  
They all hold up their phone lights. "Good. Let's go," Renjun says.

  
\---

  
Renjun isn't wrong. The forest is _very_ dark, even with seven flashlights. Every little sound makes them all jump in slight fear. Donghyuck feels a little more awake with each step further.

  
It's eerily quiet, and the crunch of leaves as they walk is deafening. Donghyuck shivers slightly.

  
Suddenly, a loud gasp echoes through the trees. Mark, who has been leading them, has stopped, standing completely rigid. Donghyuck jogs up to him warily, and the entire group gathers around.

  
The beam of Mark's flashlight illuminates a patch of ground covered with roots and mushrooms. "What?" Donghyuck questions. "They're just mushrooms."

  
Mark shakes his head. "Look closer, Donghyuck."

  
Donghyuck sighs, bending down to peer closer. He stills sees a cluster of mushrooms, but wait---is that...?

  
"Is that...blue goo?" Donghyuck asks, breath quickening. "And, it's glowing?"

  
"What the-?" Jaemin exhales in wonder.

  
"Hey, guys," Jeno says from a few feet away, "I think it's a trail."

  
Sure enough, the blue, glowing liquid covers the ground in a long arc, leading around an old tree into the darkness. Donghyuck definitely can't handle this right now.

  
"Should we follow it?" Renjun asks, looking to Mark.

  
Mark hesitates for a second, but then replies, "Yeah, let's go."

  
' _This is how I die_ ,' Donghyuck thinks to himself.

  
\---

  
They follow the glowing trail for what seems like miles. Donghyuck's eyes feel heavy, and even Chenle begins to complain.

  
"How much further?" Chenle whines.

  
"I don't know," Mark says, brushing a fallen branch out of the way.

  
Donghyuck stares intently at the forest floor in boredom as he walks forward without end. The ground is becoming very soft, and he looks up to see the trees thinning out in the distance.

  
"Hey, Mark," Donghyuck begins, "Is there a gorge or something in these woods?"

  
"Uh," Mark answers helpfully, "I don't think so."

  
_Huh_. Donghyuck runs forward to check out what exactly is there. Reaching the apparent clearing, he stops.

  
"What the hell?" he breathes.

  
In front of him lies a massive crater, the glowing liquid leading straight in. There's _something_ in the center. Donghyuck squints. Something metal, maybe?

  
He suddenly forgets his tiredness, jumping down into the hole. The others stare at him blankly.

  
"Well, come on. It was your idea," he says impatiently. They quickly move to join him.

  
As they move closer, the thing in the crater no longer looks metal; instead, it looks like some material Donghyuck has never seen before. The object is grey-like and almost transparent. Looking at it makes his eyes hurt.

  
Whatever it is, it's broken. Pieces lie scattered across the dirt, and chunks of the material are floating in the air. Donghyuck feels like he's sleep-walking. His feet won't move forward anymore, so he hangs back as the others shout to each other.

  
Mark slowly tiptoes up to what looks like the main part of the object. He reaches out a tentative finger and taps the surface quickly.

  
"It's warm," he says, puzzled.

  
From a safe distance away, Donghyuck tells him, "It looks like it has an opening. You should see if you can open it."

  
Mark, the fool that he is, actually listens. Reaching out, he pries the material apart. The air becomes very still. Mark lets out a quiet noise.

  
"W-what's in there?" Donghyuck asks, voice wavering slightly. His feet inch closer to the pile of destroyed material.

  
"It's--," Mark begins, "It's a person."

  
Donghyuck and the others rush over immediately, eyes wide and breath heavy.

  
"And he's hurt," Mark whispers.

  
\---

  
When he was younger, Donghyuck and his grandmother used to lay on the grass at night and look up at the stars. She would point out the constellations, holding his tiny hand in her own and chuckling as he clumsily tried to pronounce their names.

  
Her eyes would sparkle as she spoke about the far-away planets. Cozily wrapped up in a blanket, Donghyuck would listen intently to every word, heart beating with excitement.

  
"Someday," she would say, "You might travel to the stars, Donghyuck."

  
Donghyuck would nod enthusiastically, wanting it more than anything in the world.

  
"Or maybe," she would whisper, looking up, "the stars will travel to you."

  
\---

  
A person sits in the heap of strange metal, eyes closed and hair matted. His face is small with a prominent jawline. He looks completely normal, save for the multiple wounds on his skin oozing blue liquid. _Is that his...blood?_

  
"W-we have to help him!" Renjun stammers, motioning frantically toward the gruesome injuries.

  
Donghyuck is frozen, peering in at the injured (maybe not a) person. He looks young, maybe slightly older than Mark. A smooth white outfit covers his body. It looks like nothing Donghyuck has ever seen. _How did this boy get here, and why is he so hurt?_ Donghyuck doesn't like it, whatever it is.

  
This "person" obviously does not belong here, and Donghyuck's stupid heart quickens in---excitement? No, _no_. He can't be excited about something like this. He likes his perfectly simple life just the way it is; something like this will mess it up completely.

  
Chenle tentatively reaches down to touch the boy. Donghyuck opens his mouth to warn him to stop, but it's too late; Chenle's hand taps the boy's chest.

  
"I think he's breathing, guys," Chenle says, eyes wide.

  
"Lift him up, Jeno," Mark orders quietly. "Let's take him to my house and help him."

  
' _How about we just mind our own business for once, guys_?' Donghyuck thinks.

  
It takes Jeno, Mark, and Jisung to lift the boy out of the debris. The boy's legs are so long that his feet drag the ground as Jisung hoists him onto Mark and Jeno's shoulders. Completely unconscious, he kind of just _flops_. Donghyuck thinks this whole situation is ridiculous.

  
\---

  
The boy lies unconscious in Mark's bed. Everyone clusters around the bedside, impatiently waiting for _something_ to happen. Anything. (Donghyuck thinks it would be fitting for the mysterious boy to wake up and subsequently implode Mark's bedroom like he imploded the forest.)

  
They have tried to clean the boy's wounds the best they can. Strangely, some of the smaller scratches have already seemed to heal up even though barely thirty minutes have passed.

  
"So," Jaemin announces suddenly, "Do you think he's an alien?"

  
"Don't be ridiculous," Donghyuck replies, but he's not totally sure he believes himself.

  
Lips pursed thoughtfully, Mark says, "Maybe. I think it's possible."

  
Jaemin smirks. "All signs point to yes. First, Mark thinks he sees something _fall from the sky_. Second, we go check it out, and there's a massive crater that was not there before." He turns to Donghyuck. "Third, we find that weird metal thing. _Spaceship_ , hello? Fourth, there's somebody _in_ the spaceship with freaking blue blood? If he's not an alien, then I didn't pass Kindergarten!"

  
"I thought you got held back a year," Donghyuck snarks.

  
"That's a groundless rumor." Jaemin folds his arm across his chest. "Point is, this guy in Mark's bed is an alien, an extraterrestrial if you will."

  
The sheets rumple, and Donghyuck hears the ghost of a whine echo through the air. His head turns sharply.

  
Two wide eyes stare back at him, almost unblinking. It's unsettling. The boy is sitting up in the bed, hands clutching the sheets tightly. His gaze begins to flit across the room, eventually settling back on Donghyuck. Donghyuck looks away.

  
"Uh..." Mark says intelligently. "We...we-"

  
"We're not here to hurt you," Renjun helpfully interjects.

  
The boy tilts his head after hearing this, creakily, as if he's a new machine that's never been used before. He makes no attempt to reply, just sits there staring quietly.

  
"Well, this is weird," Jeno mumbles.

  
Renjun repeats his sentence again. He receives the same response: tilted head, blank stare.

  
"I don't think he can understand us," Renjun concludes.

  
' _As if it isn't obvious_ ,' Donghyuck thinks.

  
Mark tries to do some stupid thing where he points to things as he constructs a sentence, probably hoping visual cues will somehow prompt the boy to understand. It does nothing. The boy sits there, blank as ever. It's honestly bizarre to witness. Donghyuck thinks he's seen enough craziness for one night.

  
"Okay, guys, looks like we're getting nowhere." Donghyuck gets up to leave, grabbing his jacket. "I'm going home for the night. Have fun with your alien."

  
He gets three feet from the door, and then a loud sound of distress rings across the room. Donghyuck stops, hand paused mid-reach for the doorknob. He hears a little whine, and frowning, turns around.

  
The boy is looking at him, features twisted in...discomfort? Donghyuck furrows his brows, puzzled. He shares a confused look with Mark, and very lightly, steps backward. The boy lets out an angry noise.

  
"What is happening?" Donghyuck mumbles to himself.

  
"Donghyuck, don't move," Mark says quietly. "Let's try something. Jisung, get up and try to walk out of the room."

  
Jisung rolls his eyes but gets up and trudges to where Donghyuck is standing. The boy on the bed makes no sound.

  
"Open the door and walk out, Jisung."

  
Jisung swiftly turns the doorknob and exits. The alien boy does nothing: no noises, no movement whatsoever.

  
"Okay, come back in," Mark says. "Now you try the same thing, Donghyuck."

  
Donghyuck takes one single step back, and the alien boy begins to shake.

  
"S-stop!" Mark orders. "Now, try to walk forward."

  
Donghyuck does. The boy stops shaking, instead releasing what seems like a sigh of relief.

  
"Okay, keep walking forward."

  
Donghyuck takes four careful steps forward. He can't look up at the boy.

  
"Keep going."

  
He inches closer. "How much longer are we doing this?" His heart is beating, beating loudly. He wonders if the boy can hear it.

  
"Just a little more."

  
Donghyuck shuffles forward and makes the mistake of looking up. The strange, wide eyes are trained upon him, and Donghyuck's breath catches.

  
The boy begins to move, reaching forward. Oh, oh _no_ , reaching forward. _For what? Donghyuck?_

  
The alien boy pauses, placing his palm forward, open to Donghyuck. Donghyuck thinks he might be sick; he's starting to sweat. His head pounds as his hands, as if possessed, reach open to meet the boy's. Their palms touch; he locks eyes with the alien boy, and a wave of something _crashes_ loudly into his mind.

  
He registers a deep, rough sound. _A voice?_ And then, he promptly passes out.

 


End file.
